Bangkok Part 5/5: Any other business

Finally, we conclude our Bangkok report. Here, we wrap things up with a randomlist of food that we found to be interesting in one way or another.

Raw grilled sausage

The first stall we ate at during this trip was right outside our hotel. There was a lady selling grilled meat. We had the chicken wing, which tasted pretty normal, and then we got these pork sausage things. They were on the grill for barely a minute so the minced pork inside was cold and raw, tasting strongly of garlic and some sort of chimichurri mix. It was sort of a pork tartare, really. It tasted fine, but it being our first day, we were worried that eating raw pork would wreak havoc on our digestive systems and spoil the rest of our makan plans so we had to ask for it to be cooked a little more.

There are many stalls like this around the hotel, each offering a big selection of grilled meats. 

McDonald’s spinach pie

I was quite curious about this, and since I didn’t think we were going to see these in Malaysia, I decided to give it a try. Like all pies at McDonald’s, this one was exceedingly hot inside and took a long time to cool down. I was hoping for more of a spinach taste, but it tasted more of corn than anything else.

Tastes just like creamed corn pie with green food colouring - maybe they made a typo with the name.

Thai kuey chap

This stall was at Khao San Road, right next to the chicken salad stall from Bangkok Part 1. They had rice noodle sheets rolled up like chee cheong fun, together with various pig parts and a few different cuts of pork all swimming in a dark, porky, hearty broth. Great comfort food if you’re someone who adores pig parts as much as Lady Fartsalot does. Like pretty much all of the food we had in Bangkok, you can adjust the flavour to your liking with the sweet-salty-spicy-sour condiments on the table.

More pork parts than you can shake a chopstick at.

Gourd dogs

These snacks were sort of like corn dogs, except they were gourd-shaped and composed almost entirely of batter – a mostly sweet batter that was fried and then dipped in more batter and then fried again to achieve its distinctive shape. When we’ve chewed down to the hotdog bit, we found that it was extremely tiny and tasted sort of sweet as well. It was rather mediocre and sorely lacking in the meat department – something you absolutely cannot accuse our next entry of.

You could also call it a stunted corn dog.

Meat platter

It was the first stall at the Seacon pasar malam that caught my attention – cheese-stuffed sausages, luncheon meats, hams, fish cakes and more… a meat-lover’s dream spread dunked in boiling oil and cut up into bite-sized pieces of salty, meaty, greasy deliciousness and slathered in chilli sauce, mustard and mayonnaise. This massive platter of processed meat goodness was only 100 Baht and filled me up a little too much right at the start of this particular pasar malam crawl, but I have absolutely no regrets buying it.

In my mind, few things in the world look better than this gorgeous pile of processed meat. 

Well, this concludes our coverage of the stuff we ate around Bangkok. We’ve tried some exciting new flavours and are planning to go back for more very soon – and hopefully come back with more lists of tasty discoveries. Next post, however, we’ll be back in Malaysia with a big hawker favourite from Sungai Petani.

Bangkok Part 4/5: Tasty discoveries

You can find good food simply by wandering aimlessly around the streets of Bangkok and stopping by wherever looks or smells good. This post covers the food we stumbled upon that we really liked but didn’t make it into our best-of list.

Pork noodle at floating market

This shop is one of the most unique ones I have ever seen – the dining area is quite long but only about 3 feet wide, with a long table along one wall and just enough space to sit. There isn’t even room for people to walk behind seated diners. It was empty when we were there, but I imagine that when it’s full, diners will have to pass the bowls from the kitchen (situated in a roomier part of the shop) down the table to others seated further away.

Anyway, the noodles. They came in a thick, dark gravy with some meaty bits mixed in. The flavour was deep and rich and strong, tasting of aromatics and pork that’s been stewed till the meat and collagen disintegrate into the gravy and thickens it. On the table was also a special chilli paste that added heat and even more body to the gravy.

It was well worth squeezing into that cramped space for a taste of this bowlful of joy.

  

Floss crepe at floating market

There was a guy selling these sweet treats off the back of his bicycle, all his ingredients and gear stored in a tiny storage box mounted over the rear wheel. We took notice because of the neverending crowd of customers gathered around him, waiting patiently for their orders. The ‘crepe’ was actually miniature versions of popiah skin – the really thin, circular type used by popiah hawkers, not the thicker square kind sold frozen in supermarkets. And the ‘floss’ was like thicker versions of cotton candy, taking the form of shards that were hard, brittle and melt-in-the-mouth. It was not too sweet, and tasted like it was made out of soy milk. It was very enjoyable and light, and tasted healthy to boot.

This extremely basic 'stall' looked like it was decades-old.

Like a cotton candy dessert taco.

Orange slush at floating market

I saw this stall and suddenly had a hankering for orange Slurpee. Well I bought one and was thrown off by the taste a little. I thought it wasn’t orange, or orange mixed with pomelo and lime or something. Many sips and wrong guesses later, I realised with intense embarrassment that what I was tasting was orange all along. It was all-natural, freshly squeezed orange juice, with the distinctive taste of pith. I was so used to all that artificially flavoured crap we get in bottles in Malaysia that I didn’t even recognise real orange flavour when I tasted it. Absolutely shameful.

Tastes so natural I didn't recognise it.

Coconut near floating market

We were walking away from the floating market when we saw this stall down a side lane. There were a bunch of guys there, chattering away and nonchalantly carving coconuts into smooth, perfect little shapes for sale. Their knives were seriously sharp, as was their skill. The coconuts they sold were a bargain at only 10 Baht each, and were filled with lots of sweet coconut water and thick but tender flesh. It was a delicious and refreshing treat made all the more enjoyable by the coconut-carving master class happening in front of us.

A really good bargain at just 10 Baht per coconut.

Grilled sausage

We were just walking along the back streets near our hotel when we saw this lone pushcart grilling up delicious-looking links of sausage. Each link was only about a mouthful in size, but packed some really nice big flavours. The skin was firm and popped nicely when bitten into, the meat firm and springy, overflowing with juice, and there was a very nice hint of lemongrass and heat. Whoever you are, anonymous sausage grilling guy, you certainly made our walk highly memorable.

As a bonus, the stall was also situated across the street from the cool-looking brick wall in the background.

Insect larvae

One of my main must-eat items in Bangkok was bugs, so I was really happy when we stumbled upon this stall selling them around the Pratunam area. Tried a sample of crunchy baby cricket, but ended up buying these larvae, which the vendor reheated in hot oil and spritzed with a vinegary dressing. The outer carapaces were nice and crunchy and the insides had the rich taste and consistency of the deep-fried fish eggs I usually order at banana leaf restaurants. It was a good, nutritious and healthy snack which even Lady Fartsalot found enjoyable, once she got over her queasiness.

I'd take these over caramel popcorn any day.

It’s taken far longer than it should, be we will be wrapping up this Bangkok trip report soon. Part 5 is coming up shortly…

Bangkok Part 3/5: Slightly overhyped

This part of my Bangkok report is horrendously late, and will cover those places that had stellar reputations and (in some cases) very long queues. Perhaps those who raved about the food exaggerated too much, or perhaps the quality has deteriorated recently, but I just didn’t find them to be as impressive as the reviews suggested.

Not that they’re bad, mind you. Some of them are even worth a try… they’re just not as mind-blowing as I had expected.

Thip Samai

This hugely famous pad thai shop was packed to capacity and had a long line out front even on a week night.

The queue to get into Thip Samai.

The noodles are pretty nice, a little sweetish, with very delicately balanced flavours. Any addition of condiments – be it a squeeze of lime or chilli flakes – will change the flavour noticeably. They use good, fresh ingredients and got the cooking down to a production-line level of efficiency so we got our food fairly quickly in spite of the crowds. There was even a station manned by a couple of cooks who do nothing but fry up paper-thin crepes of egg and wrap the noodles in them.

While the food was good, it was not exactly mind-blowing. There just wasn’t enough wok hei and the flavours just aren’t very robust. Now, having had a taste of what most people agree is one of the best pad thais around, I can safely say that the pad thai is nowhere near as good as the Penang char koay teow I grew up on. Probably no stir-fried noodle dish ever will be. That’s something we can be proud of as Malaysians.

Looks kinda like char koay teow, but nowhere near as good.

We also ordered this egg-wrapped Pattaya-style pad thai.

Aside from the pad thai, they also have a coconut slush that’s apparently made according to a recipe given to the shop by the King’s mother, specifically to pair with their pad thai. It was pretty good, sweeter than normal coconut water and with a slight hint of caramel. There is a small problem with it that could just be down to my personal taste – there was this slightly unpleasant smell of coconut oil every time I swallow a mouthful of the stuff. I wouldn’t order it again because of this, but Lady Fartsalot didn’t have any issue. At any rate, since it’s only 25 Baht a cup, it’s certainly worth trying out at least once.

A kingly drink.

Another famous drink at Thip Samai is their orange juice – the only juice I know of that is charged at market rate, depending on the types of oranges they were able to buy that day. It certainly tastes good, with plenty of orange pulp and the flavour of natural oranges. However, I thought it was a little overpriced at 130 Baht for a big bottle containing about 1 liter of the stuff.

Most expensive orange juice I have ever had.

Prawn pad thai

Having finished our meal at Thip Samai, being the gluttons that we are, we immediately hopped next door to another pad thai shop that serves prawn pad thai. It was a little wetter than the pad thai at Thip Samai, with big, nicely cooked prawns and some ‘prawn oil’ or something, but other than that it was more or less the same pad thai dish. And actually, I thought it tasted more of crab than it did of prawn.

The prawn is the undisputed star of this dish.

Kaiton Pratunam chicken rice

On the day we went to this shop, they were not open at their usual time because the whole city was in mourning due to the death of a prominent religious figure. This meant we had to wait for many hours till they opened later in the day, and had to change our plans significantly.

When the shop finally opened, it was immediately packed with people and the workers were furiously chopping up some massive birds. It looked like we were in for a memorable chicken rice meal.

I am disappointed, however, to say that it had not been worth the wait. The rice was very fragrant and had a strong chicken flavour, but everything else was painfully ordinary. On top of the rice was a very small portion of chicken which tasted like the sort of run-of-the-mill steamed chicken you could find at most stalls in Malaysia. The condiments are slightly different: there was a sweetish chilli sauce, cili padi, ginger and some sweet soy sauce, but beyond that, it was just a regular old chicken rice meal.

Looks for all the world like a mediocre chicken rice meal at a not-very-good coffee shop in some sleepy backwater town. Tastes like it, too, unfortunately.

Thean Song duck

The roast duck was very tender and came in a very rich and thick dark sauce. There was also a nice vinegary condiment that worked well with it. I was just a little disappointed with this one because it didn’t have much duck flavour.

Lots of duck meat but not really a lot of duck flavour.

The soft steamed bread at the same shop was a little better. Nice and warm and fluffy, it came with a generous helping of kaya. This kaya had the deep, rich orange colour of a good egg yolk and was extremely smooth. It was drizzled with what appeared to be evaporated milk. The combo would make for a really lovely light breakfast.

I actually liked this a lot more than I did the duck, carnivore though I may be.

The entries in this post had so much hype that my expectations were built up higher than they were able to deliver. In the next Bangkok installment, we will have a look at a few interesting items that we just stumbled upon without any expectations whatsoever. Stay tuned!

Bangkok Part 2/5: Best of the rest

Last post, we covered my top 5 favourite things to eat in Bangkok. It hasn’t been an easy list to make, and I’m still not entirely sure I chose the correct top 5 because there was just so much good food there.

A few of the things we ate could easily have made the top 5 if someone else had written this blog, and this post is for them. In no particular order, here are the next 6 best things I ate in Bangkok.

Chocolate Lava Cake at After You, Siam Paragon

We had to wait about 20 minutes for a table at this famous dessert place in the basement of the high-end Siam Paragon mall. And it was a weekday afternoon – so you can imagine how long a wait you will be in for during weekends.

A taste of the Chocolate Lava Cake and we immediately understood why. It was easily the best chocolate lava cake we’ve ever had. The cake was soft and light, and had a thick, dark, super-rich chocolate sauce oozing out of it. It was not too sweet, and had a pronounced saltiness that added a pleasant savoury dimension to its flavour profile. There was more chocolate hardened and stuck to the bottom of the plate. It tasted like hazelnuts and I spent most of our time there just chipping and scraping it off the plate with a spoon.

The sour strawberries complemented the rich, sweet chocolate very nicely. The scoop of ice-cream was, however, more of a nice-to-have.

We also ordered the Horlicks Latte which was great –rich and thick, with a caramel-like sweetness. 

The stirrer gives me an idea: this would be EPIC if frozen and served as a popsicle.

But the strawberry crepe was a big disappointment. It was watery and didn’t have much strawberry flavour. Avoid at all costs.

Probably the best thing on the plate was the dollop of cream on the side.

Thab Thim Krob in Chinatown

This is such a ubiquitous item on Thai restaurant menus and we’ve obviously had it many times before in Malaysia. But the one we had on arriving in Chinatown is simply on another level. The santan is rich and thick and sweet, and the sourness of the jackfruit slices just offsets it perfectly. There were also cubes of thick but surprisingly tender coconut flesh, as well as deep red water chestnut pieces. A bargain at 40 Baht, especially compared against more expensive versions in Malaysia that’s nowhere near as good.

I would eat dessert more often if more of them tasted like this.

Chee Cheong Fun in Chinatown

This stall outside the Seiko shop in Chinatown serves up a chee cheong fun variant that’s unlike any of the ones we typically find in Malaysia. The rice noodles are incredibly light, and covered in a tasty soy sauce-based stew with tender chunks of pork, mushrooms and cuttlefish. Slices of fried garlic add just the right touch of bitterness and fragrance.

Single portions of the noodles are steamed in individual bamboo baskets.

Like all Thai eateries, this one had a holder with 4 different condiments on the table. One of these condiments – the tangy green one, seemed unique to this stall and goes very well with the chee cheong fun.

Just 40 Baht for this plateful of wonderfulness. It was so good I had to order a second one though I was already quite full at the time.

The stall owner hard at work preparing an order. If you crop out the Thai writing, this photo could easily have been taken in Hong Kong.

Pad Thai at Ban Laem

We decided to go to the Maeklong Market by train. The first leg of our journey was a 1-hour ride from Bangkok to Ban Laem. From there, we were supposed to take a second train direct to Maeklong. But on arriving at Ban Laem, we found out that the train schedule had changed and we needed to wait a few hours to catch our train.

This turned out to be lucky for us. As we were wandering around while waiting for the train, we randomly stepped into this shop that turned out to have pretty good pad thai. The noodles were nice and firm and chewy. They were a little on the sweet side but that’s easily balanced off with the condiments on the table. Add heat, salt or tang as desired and enjoy!

Our first plate of pad thai for this trip was a pretty good one.

Grilled scallops at Amphawa Floating Market

On arriving at Maeklong, we checked out the market, which didn’t offer anything special beyond the train that passes inches from your face. Once we’ve experienced that, we immediately hopped on a tuk-tuk (my first one ever) to the floating market nearby.

There were plenty of food stalls at the floating market, as well as along the narrow streets connecting to it. Of the many tasty things on offer there, among our favourites were these fresh, perfectly grilled scallops. Firm, sweet and a decent size, they came with a spicy-tangy dipping sauce that reminded me of the sauce at Nong & Jimmy back in Malaysia.

At 50 Baht for half a dozen, it was a pretty good deal too.

Century eggs at night market near Seacon Square

These eggs were coated and cooked in a spicy fish paste and came with a spicy-sweet thai chilli sauce. The black yolk was rich and creamy, almost runny. There was more heat in the fish paste coating, and it matched up nicely with the richness of the egg. This was a very interesting century egg experience - very nice and tasty but totally different from any century eggs I've tried before.

If century eggs freak you out (guess you must be a Westerner) they also sell regular eggs.

So ends part 2. Do look out for the next installment in this series of posts on Bangkok. Part 3 will be on well-known makan places that don’t quite live up to their hype. See you then!